Can't We Be Seventeen?
by beemoose
Summary: "I wish you'd come with me..." kind of a everyone lives AU. alternate ending to Dead Girl Walking (Reprise). JDRonica. mostly based on the musical, but has references to the movie as well.
1. Chapter 1

"Step away from the bomb."

Veronica slowly, coolly, stepped out of the shadows, armed with a croquet mallet. She was certain J.D. could hear her heart pounding in her chest.

J.D. turned, and at first his face was full of astonishment, but quickly turned to amusement. He gave a breathy chuckle. "This little thing? I'd hardly call this a bomb. This is just to trigger the packs of thermals upstairs in the gym. _Those are bombs_." Despite his apparent rock-solid resolution, his voice was shaking.

"Please, J.D," she nearly choked on the words. "Don't do this. You said you wanted a life with me." She felt like curling up into a ball and crying. She loved him, but she had since come to understand that if he wouldn't end this himself, she would have to. No matter what it took.

"Of course I do, darling." His face actually softened, even if just for an instant. But as soon as it appeared, it was gone. "But we can't have our life together like this. These assholes, this school, they've blinded you. We can't be together until they're gone." He turned back to his bomb, making final adjustments.

Veronica knew she had no choice. "I wish you'd come with me…" She pleaded.

"I wish I had more TNT," He growled in response. That was it, she resolved to herself. No more second chances. She hoped to get a swift blow to his head and knock him out cold. She knew he was much stronger than her, and if he was given the chance to fight back, he would win.

She took a swing at him, but he had to have seen it coming because he dodged it with ease. He took hold of the mallet, yanked it from her hands, and threw it aside. She desperately tried to grab something, anything, his hair, his neck, but it was in vain. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her against the cinderblock wall. She cried out in pain and landed on the ground.

God, it fucking hurt. For a few very long seconds all she could feel was pain. She felt dizzy and briefly thought she might throw up. When she opened her eyes, she saw he had turned back to his bomb again. It had started beeping. If she hadn't been in so much pain, she might've also felt despair and anguish. Tears further blurred her vision.

He stood up and dusted his hands off. "Sorry, Veronica. Really. But you knew what would happen." He turned around to face her, and kneeled down to kiss her forehead. "I'll miss you," he admitted. He got back up, and started for the door.

"Wait," she cried out, surprised at herself for how weak she sounded. He stopped. "No one… has to die." At this, he raised an eyebrow. She was struggling to prop herself up on her forearm. "It can be just you and me. No one else. We can leave everyone behind and start our life together. Just _please_ … Don't kill anyone."

For a last ditch effort at stopping him, he actually seemed to be considering it. He furrowed his brows. "Veronica, these people _deserve_ to die. They're all horrible. They hurt you. They made you cry."

"I know," she panted. "But if you do this, if you kill all these people, we will _never_ get our life together. We can't be normal. We can't go back. Please, if you want a life with me, stop this. We'll run. It'll be just us, together. We can be normal."

He chuckled lightly. "I think we're past normal." She feared her pleading with him wasn't working. He was going to do it. Until finally, he added, in a voice softer than she had heard in a long time, "Do you promise?"

It caught her by surprise. "What?"

"Do you promise? That we'll leave this all behind and start our life together, if I stop this?" She realized he thought she was tricking him. Even she was unsure if she meant what she was saying. But this could be her chance to stop him.

"Yes," she blurted, okay with the fact that she sounded weak and wounded. "Please, J.D. That's what I want. Just stop the bomb."

He stood frozen for longer than Veronica would have liked. Her heart was pounding so loud it was all she could hear. But after a moment that seemed like eternity, he said in almost a whisper, "Okay."

She was so exhausted and in pain that she didn't know what to do except to close her eyes. She heard mechanical beeping and metal clattering against the ground. Nearly instantly, he had scooped her up into his arms like it was nothing. "I knew we'd be together again, my darling. I was sure. You're meant to be mine." He kissed her forehead gently and mused, "Our love is God, Veronica. Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

She woke up to a horrible throbbing pain in her head. Immediately, instinctively, she reached to the spot that the pain radiated from, but she regretted it, wincing at the touch. After another minute, she opened her eyes. Upon seeing her surroundings she remembered all the horrible things that had taken place the day before. After they had left the school, they got into his station wagon he had likely stolen from his dad. He had revealed to her that he was planning on running after blowing up the school anyways, so he had plenty of necessities they would need, at least for a little while. He just started driving and she didn't ask any questions; she was exhausted and had fallen asleep not even 20 minutes after they left.

She was half under a blanket in the passenger seat of the station wagon, her head on his lap. He was reclined a bit, his eyes closed and his breathing slow. It smelled vaguely like cigarettes and the fake leather interior. She had thought he was asleep at first, but as soon as she lifted her head to get a look at where they were, his eyes opened to look at her, grinning.

"Well, hey, sleepyhead," he murmured, running a hand gently through her hair. "You alright? You slept all night and most of yesterday, too."

She ignored his question. "Where are we?" she yawned.

"Ah," he paused. "Somewhere a little bit outside of Fort Wayne. I wasn't really sure where to go except for away from Shithole, Ohio." He shrugged and rubbed his eyes.

"What are we doing, J.D..?" She shook her head, at a loss for words. After a long pause, she added, "Let's just go home."

That elicited an immediate reaction from him. "Are you fucking kidding? You're just going to give up on me like that?" He was furious. "You _always_ do this, Veronica. Finish what you started! I knew you were full of shit, I knew I shouldn't have trusted you…"

Instantly she felt guilty for even suggesting it. She just wanted him to stop. "Okay, okay!" she interrupted. "I'm sorry. I'm just scared and I don't know what we're going to do, and I miss my parents, and my friends, and—"

He grabbed her by her chin and cut her off, pressing his lips to hers firmly. After kissing her for a few long, warm, moments, he drew back. "Hey. It'll be okay." And just as suddenly as he angered, he was calm again. "We'll figure everything out. As long as we're together it'll be okay."

Although she was not entirely reassured, she took it for an answer for the moment. She mostly just wanted to avoid setting him off again. She put her head back down in his lap and willed her headache to go away.

…

After a quick fast-food lunch the two settled back into his car. "So," she treaded lightly with her words, "What exactly _is_ the plan here?"

"Well," he started, "The way I see it, we have two options." At this, Veronica raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to clarify. He continued. "About a year ago, I was living with my dad in Colorado. We were there long enough that I was able to meet some guys who could help us out now. Since, you know, we can't be using our legal identities anymore. At least not for a while." He glanced over at her. She was a little bit stunned at this realization. She knew leaving everything behind was going to be difficult, but she hadn't even thought about things like legal names and paper trails. " _Or_ ," he added, "You and I can go on the most romantic road trip of the century until we get sick of it, and then maybe we can think about settling down." He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it, grinning at her.

Though she tried to hide it from J.D, she felt awful. She was only reminded of everything she left behind. She bit her lip and tried not to think about her parents and how worried they must be…

"What do you think, baby?" He interrupted her thoughts. "We'll do whatever you want. I'm happy as long as I'm with you." _And as long as no one gets in our way_ , he thought to himself.

"I've always wanted to see new places, I guess," she shrugged and returned his grin. As conflicted as she felt, the idea of a little vacation with him was too good to pass up. Thinking of their escapade as a vacation made her feel better about it.

He was beaming at this point. "Fantastic! We'll travel the country, just you and I, for as long as we like, and no one will tell us what to do! We're the romance of a lifetime, my darling!" He was nearly smothering her in kisses, but it made her laugh. She let her love for him distract her, her worries nearly forgotten. With that, they set on the road again, deciding to head west and see whatever caught their eye on the way.


End file.
